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As he examined a nanochip under a microscope, the scientist explained that with more research,
doctors could better identify people at the greatest risk of lung cancer.

“Each cancer cell secretes a material that has an address,” said Kwang Kwak, a research
associate with the Ohio State University College of Pharmacy. “We’re detecting that address.”

With the aid of money from Pelotonia and the National Cancer Institute, OSU researchers are
developing a blood-based biomarker test for lung cancer.

Pelotonia is a fundraising bicycling event this weekend that could raise more than $20 million
for such cancer research at Ohio State.

This particular research involves blood passing over a tiny chip that resembles a microscope
slide. Particles in the blood associated with lung cancer stick to the chip like metal to a
magnet.

Doctors then can check for signs of cancer under a microscope, said Dr. Patrick Nana-Sinkam, a
pulmonologist who oversees the screening program at the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths and will kill nearly 160,000 people this year
in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society.

The biomarker would complement CT scans, which doctors use to screen for lung cancer in
high-risk patients — older individuals who have smoked for years, Nana-Sinkam said.

“It would be like having a super X-ray that didn’t give me any radiation and could see something
the size of a needle,” said Dr. Michael Caligiuri, the director of the OSU Comprehensive Cancer
Center and CEO of the James.

About 25 percent of the high-risk patients who undergo CT scans have small, suspicious spots on
their lungs, Nana-Sinkam said. Only 4 percent of those spots are cancerous.

But the only way to evaluate the spots is through risky, costly biopsies. Researchers hope the
biomarker test will limit biopsies to those with the greatest need, Nana-Sinkam said.

“Our goal is to try to better define which patients are probably at the highest risk and should
undergo more-invasive types of studies,” he said.

Initial testing of 80 samples found that 6 percent of the patients should be referred for
biopsies.

“The results ... are very encouraging,” Nana-Sinkam said. “Although the number of patients in
the tests so far is relatively small for a biomarker, our results suggest that it’s very
accurate."

The test requires less than a teaspoon of blood, and results could be available the same day.
Each chip costs less than $10 to make.

Doctors and nano-engineers at Ohio State teamed up 2 1/2 years ago with Dr. Harvey Pass, the
director of general thoracic surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan, to start
developing the test.

“We have made a tremendous amount of progress in a short time,” Pass said.

The average five-year survival rate for lung cancer is 17 percent. The survival rate increases
to 52 percent when the disease is diagnosed early.

The problem, according to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, is that only 15 percent of
lung-cancer cases are diagnosed that early. Less than 20 percent of newly diagnosed lung cancers in
Ohio are caught at an early stage, Nana-Sinkam said.

That’s why new screening technologies are needed.

OSU researchers say more testing is needed to validate the nanochip biomarker’s accuracy.
Currently, 80 additional samples are being tested.

“The research is in its infancy,” Caligiuri said, “but the impact will be enormous.”

The kick-off event for Pelotonia participants and volunteers is tonight at Columbus Commons.
The main event involves 7,252 bicycle riders going anywhere from 25 to 180 miles between Columbus
and Gambier on Saturday and Sunday. All riders sought donations to support their ride.